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Revolution Studios Acquires Stake in Latin Everywhere

It also is licensing Spanish-dubbed versions of titles from its film library for use in the digital entertainment company's Pongalo platform.

Revolution Studios has acquired a stake in digital entertainment company Latin Everywhere and has licensed Spanish-dubbed versions of titles from its 120-film library for distribution through its global OTT platform, Pongalo, it was announced Monday.

Financial details and the size of the stake weren't disclosed.

The films involved include such titles as xXx, Maid in Manhattan and Black Hawk Down.

Latin Everywhere’s library includes more than 50,000 hours of film and TV content, including such award-winning telenovelas as Juana la Virgen, on which U.S. television series Jane the Virgin is based.

Latin Everywhere will use Revolution’s investment to expand its currently-free Pongalo OTT service by adding a subscription offering that will include premium content from Pongalo, as well as films from the Revolution library.

“In our continued effort to seek innovative revenue opportunities for the expanding Revolution library, we are acutely aware of the importance of tapping into the world’s vast, tech-savvy Latino audiences,” said Revolution CEO Vince Totino. “Based on the value and enormous growth potential we see in the Pongalo platform’s ability to reach these audiences, we have decided to make a strategic investment in Latin Everywhere.”

Revolution COO Scott Hemming added: “In addition to being the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S., Latinos are also the biggest consumers of online entertainment and the most avid smartphone users. We are extremely excited to be a part of a company devoted to bringing Latinos here and around the world a wide range of Internet and mobile entertainment content, including beloved films from the Revolution library.”

Said Latin Everywhere chairman Rich Hull and CEO Jorge Granier: “We are thrilled Revolution has decided to invest financially in Latin Everywhere and license to us its library of award-winning and commercially successful feature films. The inclusion of these popular titles will add tremendous value to the content we offer our users as we add a subscription component to Pongalo’s OTT platform.”

Pongalo began as a single YouTube channel. Its film and TV network targeting Latinos on YouTube surpassed 2 billion views last year, predominantly from mobile devices. Pongalo’s OTT platform, launched in beta last year as a free service, utilizes proprietary technology acquired from InMoo.

Revolution Studios, originally established by Joe Roth in 2000, was acquired in June 2014 by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group.